Vindication
by Sam-Sam-Samedi
Summary: When Naruto chases Sasuke into a forest, he can’t help but think of all the things he’s lost there. Sasuke and Naruto exploratory; no explicit pairing.


**Title**: Vindication

**Summary**: When Naruto chases Sasuke into a forest, he can't help but think of all the things he's lost there. [Sasuke and Naruto exploratory; no pairing.]

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_AN_: Otherwise described as, "Sasuke offers Naruto good advice and the audience is all, 'Wtf Sasuke can't do that'-- and they'd probably be right." Okay, well, no. XD;

. . . Just messing with the general principle that Sasuke, above all, was the first to "acknowledge" Naruto's existence, and with their relationship as a whole. :D (This takes place sometime following the Zabuza and Haku arc.) As stated, all characters belong to their respective owners, and don't you forget it.

* * *

Sasuke considered himself an impractical companion, and ignored the murmurs that _knew_ why he had made an effort to save him. (In retrospect, it might have been surprising only to Naruto and Sakura, because he did so every other day before that; being the idiot he was, Naruto was in constant need of a hand to pull him up. All bias aside, it would have been stunningly _normal_, excluding the comatose-reminiscent near-death experience or whatever it should be called.)

He was silencing those echoes, and Naruto was meandering slowly behind, drawling that he should have never done it, and that it was ludicrous that he had.

The sound was shrill and, sickeningly, had him buzzing with uncomfortable concern, "—you might have died, and then I would have friggin' owed you one. What was I going to do then? You're a bastard, and I can't owe you anything, so don't go dying, stupid."

"You do it for me," it was simple and acerbic, "if you're going to complain."

"Bring it on!" Naruto spat, throwing his punches in a wild demonstration of power. Kakashi flipped leisurely through the tired pages of Icha Icha Paradise, its cover painted in a blaring orange mess with a couple prancing across the face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura pouted, whirling on her heel, "What are they doing?"

"Well, they're being very, very stupid," he sang, his words cheerful and lively, and Sakura gaped at his sincerity, "so we're going to _ignore_ them."

"Shut up!" Naruto hissed and Sasuke snapped to attention, glare burning with intensity enough to send him spiraling into silence. He pulled into the undergrowth, branches disturbed and broken in his anger's honor. Sakura was left trapped in dangerous limbo and wondering if she should chase after him, her mask hiding rose-colored fantasies.

"You ought to go apologize," Kakashi murmured dully, Naruto's spirit quickly dying in the face of Sakura's near frightening smile, "I'll take you home, Sakura. The mission's a failure."

He tensed, wanting desperately to hold his ground, ". . . Fine, whatever. I'll go get him. Jeez." Kakashi's answer was a half-hearted shrug of his shoulders; Naruto would always have to, like it or not. "Sa—Sakura, don't hit me, it's Kakashi-sensei's idea—!" He watched the clouds drift lazily beyond the canopy, sky a stain of blue in the horizon, and was dutifully silent. _'. . . There might be universal sadism in that. Well. There's nothing for free . . .'_

* * *

When he was a child, Naruto was of the delusion that everything lost ended up in forests. He was never able to stay in one place at one time, and whenever he wandered out into Konoha's unknown he always came back with something missing. Whether it was a baseball cap blown just beyond his reach, a fishing hook left buried in the dirt, or a model car somehow handed off to another kid, it seemed that '_one thing_!' was abruptly gone. Every so often, he and that lonely object would come across one another again; Naruto found that there are many crossroads, even the abstract kinds.

"Fuck you, Sasuke!" He sneered into the empty, limitless green, "I hate you--" Tripping over a root left him intimately acquainted with the ground, mud staining his jumpsuit a sickly brown, "--goddamn! What the hell kind of ninja leaves his team, the-- eh?" Blue eyes guileless, he listened to the leaves whisper lonely symphonies to the sunset, its hues dyeing mid-afternoon shadows fiery red and yellow. He hoped, to his own disgust, that Sasuke hadn't managed to hurt himself somehow; he couldn't help him if he didn't know where the fuck he was.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice was shrill, his throat aching, "I-- Come on!" The makeshift road— a spill of earth lining the river bend that broke into cliff sides some fifteen meters away— drowned below a flood of rainwater, debris speckled across its surface.

"You can calm down," the answer was deadpan, "Naruto." His gaze shot upwards, lost amid the wall of rock—glowering, he saw his teammate perched on its edge, a fishing pole dangling above the stream.

"What the hell are you doing _here_!" He screeched, and a bird was sent careening into the evening.

"It's flooded," Sasuke answered dryly, "Name another place I could be."

"Damn you, don't be condescending! Sakura was worried, asswipe!" He countered, and Sasuke managed an indolent turn of the head in acknowledgement.

"I'll keep that in mind," he tugged his line, ripples waltzing into the rapids before being washed away.

"Get down so I can beat some sense into you!"

"You're cocky," he cracked a smirk, "Like hell I will."

"Sasuke—"Naruto's growl was guttural, the forest an outsider to their heated silence.

His retort fractured their mutual antipathy, the sheer arrogance feeding to Naruto's frustration, ". . . Are you going to complain or come up here? Pathetic ido—"

"I'm going _to punch that asshole face in_! Screw you!" Naruto spat venom and climbed for the crag, his movements a blur of orange and blonde hair. Sasuke felt his muscles seize and spasm, breath hitched deep in his throat, and cursed the proverbial sensation of alarm; his heat drummed against his ribcage in a repetitive, broken cadence.

Naruto looked him over, eyebrow arched, "Whatever. Act stupid. Like I care."

Sasuke sloppily recovered and, alien to embarrassment, wished Naruto wasn't so close, "Tch."

The response was underprovided, and Naruto threw his arms behind his head, "I should totally punch you."

"Likewise," Sasuke affirmed before they were again plunged in a false peace.

" . . . Look," Naruto rumbled through gritted teeth, "I didn't mean to piss you off. Sorry."

"Who said I jumped in for you," and no answer came, Naruto subject to brief melancholy.

"Hey! I just didn't know how to take it, so," he spluttered, "we're teammates, right? We protect each other, and I figured that—well, I guess— thanks."

Sasuke did not bother chasing after replies, and instead was a spectator to the water splashing against his feet. It was a memory now, and the details were forgotten in the haze.

"I—"Naruto grumbled to himself, and Sasuke couldn't help but hide his grin; only he would speak when no one was listening, "You know, I never really cared about dying before."

The euphoria was killed instantly, "You won't die."

"But, you know," his voice was trembling as he sprawled out next to him, legs crossed, "I _could_ have. It was—scary."

"No one wants to die," Sasuke agreed, remembering the distant, writhing bodies of his neighbors. The blood, viscous and creeping along twisted masses of mauled skin, made his stomach lurch.

"All this stuff seemed so," he said to the forest, "pathetic when staring death in the face. I felt stupid."

". . . You don't really have to worry about death," Sasuke lied, and claimed it a condolence for Naruto alone. He felt it was his responsibility to weigh lives and then save them.

"I," his voice cracked, its implications pervasive, "Sometimes I think I couldn't do that. Jump in front of someone so that they could live, I mean."

". . . Hn," the grunt was commonplace, and Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, it's dumb, but I don't want to be a loser forever," he was gentle, and hoped desperately that Sasuke wouldn't tease him for it.

Sasuke shrugged, "You make a good loser." The ambiguity was a testament to his awkward honesty.

"Ah, c'mon," he was harsh, "Like you have to worry about that."

". . ." He thought of his supposed weakness, which he never sought to confirm, the seas of eyes that followed him, and of his father's apathy, "I don't think about it."

"What?" Naruto's disbelief was comical, "So people don't think you're a perfect bastard, huh? Good for them."

"And," Sasuke's voice was low and dead frigid, "if you have to prove it, there's something wrong with them, not you." He was a boy built of expectations, lost behind shadows of interpretation, and left to realize everyone's broken dreams.

His sincerity was unexpected, and Naruto could only look on, ". . . Yeah, maybe."

"I don't waste my time on shitheads," Sasuke's reply was prophetic and impassive, Naruto forced to abandon his stubborn front and laugh.

"Heh. That's probably a good philosophy," he grinned widely, and leaned into the cliff side, "Fuck 'em."

The bugs chirped tunes from the rapids murmuring below their legs, both pairs dangling past slabs of mudstone and waves brushing the water's surface. Sasuke perked as the line tugged, wrenching it free from the cattails and mud; he grimaced as the hook swung limply from its string, "Damn."

Naruto's eyes were guileless, suddenly struck with sudden realization, "Hey, why are you out here, anyway?"

Sasuke shrugged, slightly less forgiving, "Because you forced me to—"

"No, not that," he insisted, eying the water, "You could've went back. Or blew me off."

"I didn't invite you up here," he grumbled from behind a smirk, Naruto waving a restless hand in response.

"Ha!" He barked melodramatically, drawing attention from his error, "Like someone like _you_ could make me do anything, but—"

Sasuke interrupted him before his outburst blossomed into egomaniacal rambles, "I like it here."

Naruto was genuinely shocked, his eyes abruptly plate wide and his presence utterly intrusive. He cocked his head to the side and stared him down, Sasuke's cheeks colored red in the face of his interest, ". . . You like things?" It was a badly executed pun, like a caricature of their relationship; tentative, teasing, and transient.

"Shut up," he added coolly and glanced into the horizon, sun a brilliant gold mass sliding behind a painted sea of orange, navy, and red. He didn't have the incentive to chase all these fantasies into the evening; it was worthless.

"Haha," Naruto muttered, running a nervous hand through his hair, "Yeah, it really wasn't funny."

"I don't care," his intents were benign, but Naruto briefly blanched white and sulked.

"Fine, fine," he sneered, frustration creeping into his voice, "Whatever."

"We can go," Sasuke stood, the river sent spiraling away in curvaceous loops as he gathered his fishing gear— Naruto watched as he tossed it haphazardly into the metal box, its innards screeching as they clattered against one another.

"Glaring probably _won't_ get you a fish," he said simply, Sasuke's gaze locking with his own.

"What the hell," his reply was incredulous, "What are you going to say now. 'And smiling will?' Tch."

Naruto paused thoughtfully, his visage emotionless, and shook his head, "Nah. You get aggravated, and don't finish," Sasuke's counter was Naruto's echo, his demeanor weeping subdued anger, ". . . I could help, you know. I screw up a lot of things, so I have a right to be pissed off about it, you though—"

"I didn't ask for you to help," his earnest, vindictive candor was painful.

". . ." Naruto hid behind a mocking smile, and collected himself in a mass of clumsy limbs, "Okay."

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_AN_: . . . It really is a shame, isn't it. Aw well, read and review.


End file.
